Local schools fear state aid shortfall next year

As it does every year, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is calling on the state legislature to give local school districts all the state aid money they should.

But as it has for the past two years, the legislature probably won’t listen to the state school board.

“School districts across Illinois would receive the full funding required under statute next school year if the General Assembly approves the Illinois State Board of Education’s budget proposal as part of the state budget beginning July 1,” said a news release issued Monday by the ISBE. That would mean increasing state funding of local schools by about $875 million in the coming fiscal year.

But Wethersfield School Supt. Shane Kazubowski said the state board has issued similar calls for full funding the last two years, and the legislature has cut back on local school funding anyway. For the current fiscal year which ends June 30, Kazubowski said, the state will only send local schools 89 percent of the money the state’s school aid formula says they should get.

In Wethersfield’s case, that means that only a little more than $2 million will come in from the state, even though the district should get more than $2.24 million — a shortage of over $243,000.

The shortfall in the Kewanee district is even greater. Under the state aid formula, Kewanee schools should get just over $10 million this year, but they stand to receive just $8.9 million, or $1.08 million less than they should.

Put another way, Kewanee School Supt. Dr. Chris Sullens said, Kewanee should have received $5,921 per pupil from the state this fiscal year. But state aid will only amount to $5,276 per student.

State aid cutbacks are particularly hard on districts like Kewanee, which have a large percentage of low-income students and lack local resources to make up for the loss of state aid.

“The school districts that rely the most on state aid get hurt the worst” when state aid falls short, Sullens said.

Kewanee has had enough funds in reserve to make it through the state aid crisis in recent years. But if the shortages continue, the money might no longer be there for special projects like the new student center at Kewanee High School, Sullens said.

“State law requires that we use a specific formula for distributing state aid funds to districts,” said State Board of Education Chairman Gery J. Chico in the ISBE news release. “But for the past two years, those payments have been prorated due to cuts in the state education budget. As a result, districts have had to make difficult decisions and pass on the cuts to make ends meet. The majority are now deficit spending and just treading water. We need to reverse the trend of slashing education budgets if we want to position our students and state economy for success in the future.”

Page 2 of 2 - Kazubowski said he was told by Kewanee native Brent Appell, who works for the state education department, that about two-thirds of the school districts in Illinois are deficit spending this year because of the cutbacks in state aid.

And if Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposal is adopted by the legislature, things will get worse in the coming fiscal year, Kazubowski said. Quinn is recommending state aid be paid only at about 80 percent of what the formula requires.